MALACAÑAN PALACE
MANILA
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES
[ Proclamation No. 1893, September 11, 1979 ]
DECLARING THE ENTIRE METROPOLITAN MANILA AREA AS AN URBAN LAND REFORM ZONE.
WHEREAS, the monopoly of land ownership by a few, as well as the absence of an effective regulatory mechanism, has spawned disastrous land speculation and has caused irrational patterns of land development resulting in the emergence of blighted areas, slums and squatters’ colonies;
WHEREAS, unrestricted pricing and rentals of land put them beyond the economic capabilities of the common man, resulting in acute housing shortage and unreasonable and oppressive housing rentals;
WHEREAS, it is imperative to change the traditional concept of land ownership so that land shall no longer be treated as a commodity of trade but as an effective means of production, particularly in agriculture and industry, in order to minimize the adverse effects of inflation;
WHEREAS, the fundamental law of the land provides for the regulation of the acquisition, ownership, use, enjoyment and disposition of private property and the equitable diffusion of profits and of the ownership of property, which includes land and land resources;
WHEREAS, Presidential Decree No. 1517, proclaiming urban land reform in the Philippines and providing for the implementing machinery thereof, empowers the President to proclaim urban and urbanizable lands as urban land reform zones;
WHEREAS, the government has no intention of taking over lands in places which may be declared urban land reform zones;
WHEREAS, the intention of the government is to safeguard the public interest, especially that of future generations, by undertaking the regulation of the use and ownership of land as part of the program of equitable and rational distribution of wealth to which the government under the New Society is committed;
WHEREAS, such regulation for the public interest, particularly with respect to the development of land for subdivisions and for commercial and industrial purposes, is enunciated in Presidential Decree No. 1517;
WHEREAS, the government has no intention of expropriating or taking over all private urban lands including those which are now being utilized as viable undertakings or projects, and on the contrary the government will enhance the rational use and development of lands by private owners, subject to regulation;
WHEREAS, the purpose of urban land reform is to place all urban land under the management of the state which will, however, allow its use by private owners subject to the zonification plans as well as the rules and regulations for urban land use;
WHEREAS, it is necessary to emphasize that urban land reform differs, as indicated above, from rural land reform, so as to quiet the fears and dispel doubts or speculations arising from the misconception that urban land reform and agrarian land reform as provided under P.D. No. 27 are identical;
WHEREAS, the problems and needs identified above as arising from unregulated use, ownership and development of urban land are most pronounced and acute in Metro Manila, which is the most thickly populated area in the country;
WHEREAS, the proclamation of Metro Manila as an urban land reform zone is therefore timely, logical, desirable and urgent for the well-being of its inhabitants and to provide a model for social and economic reforms for other cities and municipalities.1aшphi1
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, pursuant to Section 4 of Presidential Decree No. 1517 entitled “Proclaiming Urban Land Reform in the Philippines and Providing for the Machinery Thereof,” do hereby declare the entire Metropolitan Manila composed of the Cities of Manila, Quezon, Pasay and Caloocan and the Municipalities of Valenzuela, Malabon, Navotas, Marikina, San Juan, Mandaluyong, Makati, Pasig, Pateros, Taguig, Parañaque, Las Piñas and Muntinlupa as an Urban Land Reform Zone.
Accordingly, as Section 4 of Presidential Decree No. 1517 provides, “No urban land can be disposed of or used or constructed on unless its disposition or use conforms with the development and zoning plans of the Ministry (of Human Settlements), and the approved enforcement and implementation guidelines in accordance with the official Development Registry System and the Development Use Permit System provided for in Sections 13 and 16 of this Decree.”
In consonance with the above, all landowners in Metro Manila are required under Sections 4, 9, 12 and 15 of said Decree to register their existing rights, development proposals, proposed improvements, and proposals to sell, lease or encumber lands with the Human Settlements Regulatory Commission.
The Ministry of Human Settlements may call upon any government ministry, office, agency or instrumentality for such assistance as it may need or designate any of the aforementioned government agencies or instrumentalities to exercise specific functions and activities related to or necessary for the implementation hereof.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have thereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the Republic of the Philippines to be affixed.
Done in the City of Manila, this 11th day of September, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-nine.
(Sgd.) FERDINAND E. MARCOS
President of the Philippines
By the President:
(Sgd.) JUAN C. TUVERA
Presidential Assistant
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